cheese aging fridge – Curd Nerd

Easy To Create Cheese Ripening Box For Aging Cheese At Home

Curd Nerd — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 22:35:46 +0000

When I last wrote, I asked for your help in sharing with the Curd Nerd readers what other home cheese makers are using to ripen and age their cheeses.

There comes a time when most home cheese makers decide to move on from making fresh cheeses, to aged cheeses, but one thing that often holds them back is the seemingly difficult task of creating the right aging environment for their cheeses to mature in.

But a cheese ripening box really doesn’t have to be that hard, or too expensive.

From the emails I received, a number of Curd-Nerds agreed that using a wine fridge was one of the simplest and more effective solutions to set up, but I also received an equal number of responses from Curd Nerds who use an old refrigerator to store and age their precious cheeses.

In some cases these fridges were newer, fully functional fridges. In others, the fridges were older and weren’t required to actually work, being used turned off as a cheese ripening box, rather than a cooling mechanism, just like a large chilly-bin.

Curd Nerd Carmen Gray’s cheese aging environment was created in this manner.

She is using an old refrigerator, which is left unplugged and is instead cooled with 2.5 litre bottles, filled with water and frozen.

These frozen bottles also serve as a means of providing humidity, as they melt and produce condensation. Carmen turns her cheeses every day and, at the same time, replaces the frozen water bottles to keep the temperatures cool, and the humidity levels up.

Carmen uses separate containers to store each cheese, which is not only useful for protecting against cross contamination of molds, but also makes it possible to raise the humidity for each cheese, if necessary, with a lid and an increase in moisture in that one container.

Looking at the great progress Carmen’s cheeses seem to be making, this solution is obviously working well and is cheap, and easy to maintain.

The only problem cheese makers in warmer climates might have with this solution, is keeping the fridge cool enough without it being turned on. Keeping the fridge in a cool spot in a garage or basement would certainly help if this is a concern though.

And of course if you use a fridge that does still work perfectly well, you can save power in the cooler months by using it turned off, and then power it back up in the warmer months to keep things cooler. The best of both worlds.

Another Curd Nerd, Naor Walloch, takes a slightly different approach by using his fridge turned on, but for only a certain number of hours each day, to have a highly successful cheese ripening box.

He found that when the fridge was on all day, the temperatures were too low for his cheeses. By adding a cheap timer to the socket the fridge runs off, he now controls the power so that the fridge is on for 8 hours, and then off for 4 hours, on for 8 hours, off for 4 hours, and so on.

Naor also monitors his humidity levels with a combined thermometer and hygrometer, and as necessary, he raises the humidity levels by filling the drinks tray at the bottom of the fridge with water, and wicking it out with a hand towel draped in the water.

Naor has found this to be necessary when there are only a couple of cheeses in his fridge, but when he is closer to filling his ‘cave’ with cheese, the humidity levels self stabilize at 80-90%.

As you can see, neither Carmen nor Naor’s cheese aging solutions are overly complex, or laden with expensive and technical equipment. Which is why I particularly chose to share their cheese caves with you.

They really do demonstrate how simple and cheap creating a cheese cave can be, instead of scaring new home cheese makers away with set ups that are over engineered and cost prohibitive.

Thanks for your help Naor and Carmen : )

How To Age Cheese At Home Using A Cheese Fridge

Curd Nerd — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:56:01 +0000

When you get into making cheese, there quickly comes a point when you have to figure out just where you’re going to age and store all this fabulous cheese you’re making.

Initially when you first start out, and you are focusing on soft cheeses such as Feta, Haloumi and Ricotta, it’s not such a problem because these can be stored in brine, oil or vacuum packed and stored in a standard fridge.

But when you get into the harder cheeses and the mold aged cheeses you will need something that provides the right conditions for storing your cheeses while they mature.

So what are those conditions? And why can’t you just use the kitchen fridge?

The main conditions you need to control while aging your cheeses is temperature and humidity. Each cheese you make has specific requirements for both of these conditions and if you want to end up with a cheese that closely resembles the type you are attempting to make, you need to meet these requirements where possible.

Cheese Fridge – Not Your Average Kitchen Fridge

Unfortunately, the kitchen fridge doesn’t really allow for this. The temperatures they run at are normally too low and the humidity is all wrong.

The other issue you have is the aromas and bacteria that are inherent in the standard family kitchen fridge. These can play havoc with your lovely cheeses and you really don’t want to start mixing them if you want to avoid contamination.

So what options are there? As you are probably aware, the tradition is to store and age cheese in cheese caves. A cheese cave is an area that is separated for cheese production and will either be a cellar type room or literally a cave dug into the land.

Most home cheese makers can’t manage the latter but many have cellars or cools stores that are being used for cheese making. For the rest of us, we have to fashion something up to do the job.

When I first started cheese making I used to put my cheese in containers in the South facing bathroom at the far end of the house, with buckets of water for humidity.

It was a task keeping it all sterile and at the right humidity and if the temperatures rose with the weather, I couldn’t really do anything to control it so it was a hit and miss operation at best.

Once I realised that I was keen to stick to my new found cheese making hobby I started seriously thinking about what else I could do.

I read all over the internet and learned that a lot of people take old fridges and make them into caves using various tools and implements to control the humidity, but it all seemed like a lot of work (and a bit of electrical knowledge) to get it right.

Get Your Cheese Fridge Here

My Wine Fridge Cheese Cave

Then I read about using Wine Fridges as cheese caves. I did a bit more research and after reading a number of first hand accounts of how it was working out I decided that was the plan I would follow.

Hubby obviously decided that the cheese making wasn’t an overnight whim too because when I suggested he check out some prices for me, he did just that, but went a step further and bought me one home!

This picture is from when I first got the fridge plugged in and started populating it. I was so excited to be migrating these lovelies from the bathroom to their new home.

The unit I got has two temperature zones which makes it perfect for aging cheeses like Camembert, which have different temperature requirements for different stages of the aging. It also has wooden, pull out shelving which was one of my preferences.

Since I got this fridge my cheese making has been 100% more successful as the conditions are more suitable and I’m not constantly battling molds, condensation or lack of humidity. It is now full to bursting with cheeses busy maturing to utter deliciousness.

I wouldn’t say this option is the cheapest option but it has been well worth the investment.

The fridge sits in the corner of the dining room and is a bit of talking point with visitors often stopping to take a look to see what’s in there lately. And if they are really lucky, sometimes I even drag a block out to cut up and share.

If you have a cheese fridge or use something similar at home send us a photo we would love to see it. Especially if it is stocked with gorgeous aging cheese.